


Mio Caro

by thefeelsonthebus



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-21
Updated: 2014-04-21
Packaged: 2018-01-20 05:59:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1499240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thefeelsonthebus/pseuds/thefeelsonthebus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Leo makes Jason realise his love.<br/>Nico makes him admit it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mio Caro

Jason broke up with Piper yesterday.

He didn't know why. But over the past few months, he'd felt something was different. Not that Piper had done anything wrong. But Jason just felt that there was someone else. He couldn't think who, though. And he'd realised another secret he had to keep too, a secret that gave him guilt for being with Piper - he was bi.

Of course, he didn't tell this to Piper when he broke up with her. She took it pretty well for a daughter of Aphrodite, really. Piper was never really one to cry over a guy. Jason was glad. He still cared for Piper as a friend, but no more. He didn't know who he cared for in that way anymore.

He first realised he was bi when he started looking at Percy in a different light. He started pushing his feelings to the back of his mind, but they just kept coming back. He was trying to deny it for so long, but the strange thing was, that when he accepted that he was bisexual, the feelings for Percy started to wane again.

Of course, now he knows he loves someone else. The only thing is he isn't sure who it is. Hades, he doesn't even know their gender.

The day after he broke up with Piper, he wandered around New Rome for a while. Camp Half Blood got destroyed in the War of the Camps thanks to Octavian, (He has been banned from entering New Rome for life, and is on permanent sweeping up the Pegasus Stables duty,) and now the Greek Demigods are staying in New Rome while the Gods remake it. He met Leo, who was buying all of the brownies in one of the shops and eating them. Jason helped him with that, then he led Leo to the bathroom to clean up his face, which had become dotted with brownie crumbs and chocolate sauce.

Leo wiped his face with a paper towel, threw that in the bin, then turned to Jason and gave him a knowing smile. "Why'd you break up with Piper?" Jason frowned at him. Leo was never normally one for sensing how people thought, but on this occasion, Jason knew he'd cracked it. Jason still tried to fend him off. 

"I just thought it wasn't working." He muttered.  
Leo laughed. "You mean there's someone else. You like someone else, Jason Grace, and don't deny it." Jason tried to ignore his questions, defending himself, but eventually he relented.  
"Alright, there is someone else."  
Leo bounced up and down like an excited dog. "Who is it? Who who who who who who who?"  
Jason rolled his eyes. Those brownies had sent Leo even more hyper. "That's the thing. I don't know."

Leo stopped, and stared at Jason uncomprehendingly. "You what? You don't know? How can you know you like someone then?"  
"I just know. There's someone, but I can't figure out who they are."  
"It has to be one of the girls from the Argo II, you don't know anyone else well enough." Leo said as he and Jason walked out of the bathroom and down the streets of New Rome. "Is it Annabeth? If it is, don't tell Percy, he'll rip your head off."  
Jason's stomach lurched, knowing that if Leo knew who out of the two he used to like, he'd be a lot less curious. He laughed uneasily. "Gods, I know. But it isn't Annabeth. She's too scary."  
Leo laughed. "I know!! So, what about Hazel? You know her pretty well from New Rome. Or Reyna?"  
Jason shook his head. "Not either of them. I did used to like Reyna before I met Pipes, but that's gone now."  
Leo frowned. "Well, it had better not be Calypso." Leo has ended up rescuing Calypso, and they had plans to start a garage just outside the borders of New Rome. "I will set you on fire if it is."  
Jason shook his head, smiling at his best friend's lovesickness. "I know you would! But it isn't." 

Leo frowned, and carried on the same time as Jason spotted Piper and Annabeth talking about twenty metres ahead. Soon, they'd be in earshot. Jason tried to stop Leo from talking, but it was too late, he just ploughed on, saying indignantly "Well, that's all the girls off the Argo II, so who the hell do you love?"  
Piper turned around, having heard it. Jason growled under his breath. "Oh, well done, Leo."  
Piper's eyes were narrowed. "So that's why you broke up with me. You were in love with someone else, and you finally got bored of stringing your girlfriend along." She turned on her heel, and ran off.  
"Piper!" Jason shouted, but she was already gone. He turned back to Leo, who shrank under his gaze. Jason actually saw him swallow nervously.  
"Oops." His voice was an octave higher. "Sorry." Jason turned around, and saw Annabeth was approaching him, an equally evil glare on her face. Two evil glares from people bigger and stronger than him were more than Leo could handle.  
Jason relented, and put his arm around his best friend. "Don't worry about it. I'll explain to her. Hopefully."  
Annabeth glared at Jason. "You'd better, Grace." 

They walked away, to where they could see Percy and Frank practising sword fighting. "So," Leo said, continuing. "Who is it, if not one of the Argo II girls?"  
Jason groaned. He was hoping Leo would let it go. But Leo was his best friend. He could trust him. Hopefully. He placed a hand on Leo's chest, stopping him from walking any further towards Percy and Frank. "Can you keep a secret?"  
Leo laughed in answer. Jason glared at him, and Leo gulped. "If it requires that level of glare, yeah."  
Jason turned him away from the other boys. "The person I like..."  
Leo smiled. "Yeah?!"  
"I don't think it's a girl." 

Leo's eyes widened. "You what?!"  
"I'm bisexual. Don't look at me like that?!"  
Leo was frowning at Jason. "I just find it ironic that you're superman, the great Jason Grace, ladies magnet, and you don't even like ladies!"  
Jason shoved him. "Do you even know what being bi is?"  
"Course I do!" Leo grinned.  
"And you're cool with it?"  
"As cool with it as a fire making son of Hephaestus can be." Leo paused, deep in thought. "So... Who is it? Who's the lucky guy?"  
Jason started walking towards Percy and Frank, swordfighting in the arena. "I don't know." As they got closer to where the two other boys were, Leo fell silent.

Jason sat down in the stands, laughing at Frank's grunts. Percy was a crazy good sword fighter, and not being boastful, but Jason was the only one who really gave him much competition. Frank was a challenge for him, though. Frank wasn't as good as Percy or Jason at swordfighting, but he was about joint third with Annabeth. Leo laughed with Jason, but not cruelly. He had been trying to be better friends with Frank ever since he got back from Ogygia, and Frank knew that, but Leo was still trying. "You're doing good, Frank!" He shouted. "I'd be knocked out by now!"  
Frank grinned at Leo. "I know you would, Valdez!" Leo shouted indignantly as Percy caught Frank in the breast plate and made him stumble backwards. Jason heard a slightly sarcastic voice from behind them.  
"Oh, well done, Valdez. Really helping him there."

Jason span around, and saw Nico di Angelo, a slight smirk on his face as he looked at Leo. Suddenly, a spark struck in his mind, and all the pieces fitted together.  
"Zeus, Nico! You nearly gave me a heart attack there! Don't do that!" Leo shouted. Nico merely smiled, then his eyes slid from Leo to Jason. Jason felt the spark go off, not in his head, but in his heart this time. They held their gaze for a second, then Nico dropped it, his normally pale cheeks red with colour. 

Jason turned back around. He could feel his own cheeks heating up. Of course, why didn't he realise before? He was in love with Nico di Angelo. He'd been trying to be friends with him, but since he didn't know he was bi, he didn't realise his brain was telling him he wanted more than friendship.

Jason stood up. "I have to go." He muttered to Leo. Leo just looked at him strangely as he exited the arena and walked to the edge of the camp. 

He stood by the river. He knew Nico was gay, and loved Percy. But did he still feel the same? What a stupid question. Nico had been in love with Percy since he was ten years old. They weren't going to change just like that. They'd need something big to change. Jason realised he was thinking bitterly. He couldn't deal with that. 

Suddenly, he saw a movement up ahead. Somehow, without noticing, Nico was on the other side of the river. Jason guessed shadow travel. Dark shadows were swirling around him, and he had his eyes closed. Jason stumbled forwards, and almost fell in the river.  
"Nico!" He shouted, and immediately wanted to take it back.  
Nico span around, and his eyes widened. The dark shadows disappeared, but red flowers bloomed at Nico's feet. He swore in Greek and stood on them. "Hades, Jason, now look what you've done. I was about to summon the dead from the War of the Camps." 

"I... I'm sorry." Jason looked down at his feet.  
"It's okay." Jason looked up, and Nico was looking at him with a slight smile on his face, though it dropped as soon as he noticed Jason was looking. Nico closed his eyes, and suddenly he was gone from the other side of the river and next to Jason. Jason stumbled backwards and Nico grabbed him, apparently not noticing the heat of the older boy's skin. Gods, why did Jason have to get so ridiculous when he was lovesick? "Don't fall, mio caro."  
Jason frowned. "What does that mean?"  
Nico blushed. "Nothing, nothing." He let go of Jason, and turned away, but Jason had already seen how red his cheeks were. "I - I have to go." He fled.

Jason frowned. The word was obviously Italian, but the only person who knew Italian was Nico. From his little knowledge of languages, he knew Italian was quite like Spanish. Hopefully, this word meant the same in both languages. It was convenient, really, that his best friend spoke Spanish.

Jason raced back to the arena and sat down next to Leo. Leo barely had time to utter a greeting before Jason blurted out "What does mio caro mean?"  
Leo frowned. "You what? Caro?"  
"In Spanish."  
Leo's eyebrows furrowed. "It doesn't mean anything in Spanish, but I know a little Portuguese too, and it means "dear" in that, and a few other languages, but -" He noticed Jason's cheeks going red. "Why? Who's said it to you?"  
"Nothing. Nobody!" Jason protested, but as usual, it was too little too late.  
"Caro means dear in Portuguese, and..." Leo grinned. "Italian! And who speaks Italian here?"  
Jason flushed. "Shut up."  
"Have you been getting friendly with a certain son of Hades, by any chance?"  
"Pfft, no."  
Jason's attempt at lying was so pathetic, that even he laughed. Even so, Leo kept flicking his face until he admitted it.

"Okay, Nico called me "Caro."  
Leo jumped up and down. "So he likes you!!"  
Jason frowned. He could feel his cheeks going red. "Not necessarily. People call each other dear."  
Leo rolled his eyes. "But not guys. Do you hear me calling you dear?" They both laugh, then Leo asked the obvious. "So he is... gay then?"  
"Oh, yeah." Jason said, then clapped his hands over his mouth. He wasn't meant to tell anyone about the incident in Croatia. But Leo smiled and punched his shoulder.  
"Relax, 'caro'." He said, wiggling his eyebrows. "I won't tell anyone."  
Jason gave a mock gasp. "Who are you and what have you done with Leo Valdez?"  
"Shut up, Lightning Boy."  
"That's not an insult, Flame Head."  
"Anyway, it won't need to be a secret once you two get together now, will it?" Leo walked off, laughing, and despite everything, Jason found himself laughing as well. That's the best thing about Leo. He could cheer you up whenever you feel down or stressed or annoyed.

Once he had stopped chuckling, he pressed his palms to his forehead. Why did Nico call him 'dear?' He needed to find him, and however worried he was about his secret being exposed, he needed to find out. Jason went back to the river, where he knew Nico would be. 

Sure enough, he found him preparing to shadow travel by the riverbank. Jason accidentally made him jump again. The younger boy turned around and scowled at him. "Hades, Jason, I'm the one who's meant to scare you, not the other way around."  
Jason approached him gently. "You don't scare me."  
Nico laughed bitterly. "That's a first."  
He was a metre away from Nico now. "I'm serious."  
Nico seemed to be considering saying something, then he shook his head, "Go away, Jason. I need to shadow travel to Camp Half Blood. To see how the gods are doing. Percy asked me to."  
Jason noticed that it was the first time in a while that Nico had said Percy's name without stammering. He wondered whether it meant something. "Okay." He said. But he only pretended to step back, and when the shadows descended onto Nico, Jason grabbed hold of his arm and they went spiraling through the darkness together.

Once they landed on the ground with a thump, Nico tore his arm from Jason's grasp, scowling. "What the Hades did you do that for, Jason?"  
"I wanted to ask you something. In private." Jason's voice was trembling. Why, brain, why?!  
Nico went from irritated to embarrassed in less than a second. "What?"  
"I just wanted to... No..." Jason had trouble getting his words out.  
"Having trouble?" Nico asked sarcastically. "Do you want to write then down?"  
"Why did you call me caro?" Jason blurted out. Before registering the shock on Nico's face, he added as an afterthought "I know what it means. Leo told me."  
Nico shook his head. "How does Leo know? It's Italian, and Leo speaks Spanish."  
"It's the same in Italian and Portuguese. And Leo knows a bit of Portuguese." Jason shrugs. "He says the two languages are alike."  
Nico smiles. "He knows the most languages of us all and he can't even tell when two are alike." Then his face turns serious again. "Why did I call you Caro, Jason Grace? That's a hard one." He looked Jason dead in the eye. "Ti amo, Jason Grace. That's why. Ti amo."

Jason groaned. "Not more Italian."  
"I would have thought you'd know what that one would mean. Fairly common phrase. Wouldn't be surprised if Annabeth has said it to Percy at one point, all the languages and stuff she's leaning."  
"Why would Annabeth..." Then it clicks in Jason's brain. He has heard out before, in a song. A love song. "Oh."  
"Oh indeed."  
Jason cleared his throat. Nico looked at him strangely. "Well, Nico di Angelo, tay armo - the amo - the army -"  
Nico laughed - not a bitter one, not a sarcastic one. A real, happy, laugh. "It's ti amo." He said, pronouncing it right.  
Jason smiled at him, suddenly not afraid. He wanted Nico to know. "Well, Nico di Angelo, I "ti amo" you too."  
"You don't add the " I" or the "you. You wouldn't say I -" he blushed. "I I love you you, and that's what you're saying."  
"Alright, Mr Language Pants! I'll just say it in English." Jason laughed. "I love you, Nico di Angelo. Happy now?"  
Nico smiled up at Jason. "I'm just fine."


End file.
